An axial piston machine of this kind is described and illustrated in DE-OS-No. 19 46 658.
It is known to provide closed circuit hydrostatic drives with a device for flushing and optionally also feeding the circuit, for the purpose of continuously taking off hot pressure medium and exchanging it for cooled medium and thus supplying fresh pressure medium to replace losses of pressure medium.
In the hydrostatic drive described and illustrated in DE-OS-No. 19 46 658 the two hydrostatic machines are provided with a common control member, so that this hydrostatic drive forms a compact component, and the flushing valve of the flushing device is arranged in the common control member. There are two high-pressure and two low-pressure ducts extending between the hydrostatic machines, the circuit feeding device being likewise integrated into the control member as a feed/supply line connected with one of the two pairs of high-pressure and low-pressure lines via non-return valves.
In the known arrangement the flushing valve comprises two spring-loaded non-return valves arranged in the bridge part of a U-shaped passage arrangement that connects the other pair of high-pressure/low-pressure lines with a common flushing duct.
In the known arrangement, as well as the flushing valve being itself expensive, since it includes two spring-loaded non-return valves, the layout of the system of lines in which the non-return valves are situated is complicated, since no less than four duct sections must be provided in the control member to form the system of lines needed for the flushing, and in addition two of the non-return valves must be provided with return springs. The result is an expensive construction in which, bearing in mind that the four duct sections have to be accommodated in the control member, the relatively small size of the control member results in a complicated system of lines that weakens the control member. Moreover, the duct sections extending between the non-return valves and the low-pressure or high-pressure duct, as the case may be, must be drilled from outside.